The present invention relates to devices for collecting urine.
In the past, urine meters for collecting urine from a patient have been known. After catheterization of the patient, urine drains from the bladder through a catheter and drainage tube connected to the catheter into the urine meter. Conventionally, the urine meter has a front rigid receptacle and a rear flexible bag. The urine passes initially from the drainage tube into the receptacle for collection therein, with the receptacle providing a more accurate measurement of the collected urine than the bag. If the receptacle is not emptied into the bag for an extended period of time, the receptacle becomes full, and urine overflows from the receptacle into the bag. In a preferred form, however, the receptacle is periodically emptied manually into the bag prior to overflow and after urine measurement has taken place in the receptacle.
Although prior urine meters have operated satisfactorily in collecting urine, difficulties have been posed by the manner in which the receptacle is emptied into the bag. First, in many cases the urine meters require a complicated or confusing procedure to accomplish such emptying. Second, the structure of the prior urine meters have required an excessive amount of time to empty the receptacle into the bag which results in a great deal of inconvenience to hospital personnel.